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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: Space-Tech Hi-End Audio Laboratory - Your Experience posted by jcbach on February 23, 2003 at 03:38:18:
I own a Space Tech Lab preamp. I was originally interested based on some comparisons I saw for the low end $300 version. I contacted him and requested a test for one of the middle end preamps, I think the one for about $1600 with the hope of having an opportunity to upgrade.Albert the owner in Vancouver was open to my request and said he would permit the upgrade and test in my home. I was impressed with the transparency in my high end system with this model, I belive the QA-807 was the initial tested unit since he had one available.
I was immediately impressed with the results of this preamp in my system. Albert asked me my thoughts and how the unit arrived via mail. I said I would most likely want to upgrade and he said that was possible within the 30 day test period but there was no guarantee for the next upgrade. If I bought it , that functioning unit would be mine.
I was very excited to get the QA-808 (10 tube preamp). After some noise problems with a couple of tubes flared up (Russian Sovteks in the output buffer) were replaced with some good Westinghouse, the noise issue was eliminated in my high end system (romanesq - phobie).
My amp is so high gain as well, a big bad McCormack DNA-2 Deluxed that has the Rev. A upgrade, that I did get some noise and since I have 2 sets of speakers, I use a Niles speaker box with no sound loss to control them. This allows me to take a little off the volume and add some via the preamp so there is no noise level at all.
The sound is absolutely terrific. I believe that the tube preamp route is hard to beat both in sound and cost this route. However, this is not a big manufacturer. When I had a problem with the unit, Albert helped to try to diagnose it and in the end I had to send back the original unit and he repaired it in Vancouver. So it was about a two week turnaround.
Albert works very hard on supporting his products. He is a real gentleman when the problem came up, stood by his warranty and paid for my shipping to him (about $35) and for the return.
I've since upgraded my output tubes to even better NOS (Mazda and Vissueax) and interchange these to great affect. I also upgraded my system to a wonderful rack system (Grand Prix Audio Monaco) and added the Hal tube dampers lately.
Let me tell you, the emotion this system generates has me still overwhelmed after building this over 3 1/2 years. People are blown away when they hear it, even when they hear their favorite requests that aren't the best quality cds.
I personally think it is hard to beat the combination of a great tube preamp with a high end amp (no maintenance).
Albert is a great guy and his guarantee is worth your exploration.
As long as you keep in mind the limitations of a small shop, you benefit from the high end results.Good luck.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Space-Tech Hi-End Audio Laboratory - Your Experience - romanesq 02/23/0306:51:48 02/23/03 (0)
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